Youth Violence in Schools With Urban Youths, Essay Example

One of the universal attempts of a human mind is to understand how it functions and what factors condition the diversity of human behavior. Various theories explain different aspects of human actions. In order to analyze the issue of youth violence in schools with urban youth, Freud’s psychoanalytical theory of psychosexual development is applied. Thus, the aim of this paper is to define the main features of this theory and then to demonstrate how it explains the studied issue, with the suggestion of potential solutions.

The main reason why this theory was chosen because it suggest that the cause of deviations and violent behavior is within individual psychological problems caused by traumatic experience in childhood or certain disorders at different stages of one’s psychosexual development (Greene, 2011). The main concept of Freud’s theory is that a human mind consists of three parts. Id corresponds for primitive instincts of subconsciousness; ego is one’s rationality and calculated thinking, and super-ego corresponds for morality and judgment of one’s actions based on socially-constructed norms of behavior (Hindle and Smith, 1999).  All three parts are in constant conflict with one another. Consequently, the deviation of one’s socially-accepted behavior would be the result of suppression of one’s super-ego with ego and id (Henderson, 2012).

Freud argued that the development of adult personality went through five stages, eat each a different pleasure center was dominant and the conflict between instinctive/biological drives and expectations from the social environment occurred (Greene, 2011). The five stages included: oral stage (birth – 1,5 year), anal stage (1,5-3 years), phallic stage (3-5 years), latency stage (5-12 years)  and genital stage (12 years – adulthood ). While traumatic experiences and dominance of biological drives over the social expectations cause consequent fixations and disorders, for the target issues, the last two stages are of particular importance since disorders at this stages are directly related to building up functionality of social interactions (Henderson, 2012).

The connection of the theory to the studied issue is that the main reason for youth deviation from socially-accepted behavior, including violence and forming gangs is the person traumatic experience of each individual on latency and genital stages of one’s development (Greene, 2011). In this regard, the inability of an individual to develop a functional relationship of these two stages resulted in suppression of super-ego by ego or id. The expression of violence can be dictated by one’s desire to substitute one’s vulnerability and the lack of pleasure from socializing by assertion of one’s physical dominance over other more physically vulnerable individuals (Hindle and Smith, 1999).

The personal traumas at these two stages can occur through the inability to relate to one’s parents or to switch the social environment from parent-oriented to a wider social framework. In this regard, in the first case deviant behavior of youth can be conditioned by the lack of parental involvement in one’s life and consequent inability of an individual to develop a strong super-ego to balance the other two parts (Henderson, 2012). In the second case, the childhood cruelty and inability to accept difference or individuality of other often results in alienation of different individuals. Under such conditions alienated individuals are likely to suppress their social rejections by opposing themselves to the socially-accepted norms of behavior and the use of violence as a defense mechanism against further traumatic experiences of being rejected (Greene, 2011). Furthermore, the sense of rejection and the desire of belonging make alienated youth a favorable category for being recruited by urban gangs and criminal organizations, because no matter how brutal these groups can be, they give these alienated individuals the sense of belonging and acceptance.

The primary solution suggested by this theory is that schools, social workers and parents should work towards the renewal of a connection between these alienated and traumatized individuals and demonstrates that they can be acted and belong to the normal social environment and not to the deviant life of urban gangs (Hindle and Smith, 1999). Thus, the theory suggests treating each case individually aimed at restoring one’s connection with society and strengthening one’s super-ego to balance the other two parts.

References

Greene, R. (2011). Human Behaviour Theory and Social Work Practice. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Henderson, D. (2012). Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Hindle, D. and Smith M. (1999). Personality Development: A Psychoanalytic Perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.